1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunication device interfaces, and, more particularly, to a telecommunication device interface for providing access to specialized telecommunications services for incoming calls.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a current trend among telecommunications providers to offer specialized services to users for greater convenience, flexibility, and reliability. These specialized services may include Caller ID, Call Blocker, Specialized Ringing, Voice Message Recording (VMR), or the like.
To take advantage of the specialized services proffered by service providers, designers are implementing new features in existing telecommunications devices (e.g., telephones) that allow end users to quickly and conveniently access the aforementioned specialized services. For example, it is not uncommon to find telephones today having an integrated Caller ID feature that, in response to an incoming call, identifies the calling party and the telephone number of the calling party.
With the Caller ID feature becoming more prevalent in telephones today, designers of telephones are integrating additional xe2x80x9cuser friendlyxe2x80x9d options in the telephone itself that take advantage of the integrated Caller ID feature. That is, specialized services that have ordinarily been provided by service providers are routinely being integrated in the telephones supporting the Caller ID feature. For example, based on the information provided by the Caller ID for a given incoming call, an end user may customize a specialized ringing, call blocking, or other such features, for an incoming call number or name.
While telephones today support a multitude of features that, based on Caller ID, allow a user to quickly and easily access a variety of specialized services, these telephones suffer from at least one shortcoming, in that they are not readily configurable. That is, to take advantage of services such as call blocking, specialized ringing, call forwarding, and so forth, the end user must generally input each telephone number manually into a memory bank of a telephone and then configure the telephone number for a particular service or feature. Manually entering telephone numbers can sometimes prove to be a cumbersome and an error-prone process. It may be a cumbersome and an error-prone process because of the inordinate number of telephone numbers that must be manually entered into the telephone error-free over the course of time. Additionally, configuring the telephone may sometimes prove to be a challenge, especially in situations where the end user may have misplaced the instruction manual and cannot recall how to configure the telephone for the desired service or feature.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.
In one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for accessing a telecommunications device feature. The method includes detecting an incoming call from a calling party, providing information identifying the calling party, and configuring the telecommunications device feature in response to the information identifying the calling party.
In one aspect of the present invention, a telecommunications device is provided. The telecommunications device includes a means for receiving an incoming call from a calling party, a caller identification system capable of providing information identifying the calling party, and a control logic capable of configuring the telecommunications device feature in response to the information identifying the calling party.